Features

Features

Latest news from and about the homeland

Karaitivu 1985: A Forgotten Anti-Tamil pogrom in the Shadow of Sri Lanka’s Genocide
File photograph: Karaitivu Beach (Gowshan Nandakumar) It was a quiet morning on 12 April 1985 when Karaitivu, a small coastal Tamil village in the Amparai district of Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, was plunged into terror. As villagers prepared to celebrate the Tamil New Year, armed mobs - composed largely of Muslim men and backed by Sri Lankan security forces - descended upon the village and…

(video) Sri Lanka 'uses child fighters' - UN envoy

Nov 12, 2006
Sri Lankan government forces are recruiting child soldiers to fight against the Tamil Tigers, UN Envoy Allan Rock says in an interview with BBC.

Story of the Colombo 'safe house'

Oct 18, 2006

The arrest of a Tamil youth, Poobalapillai Kantharajah, 26, from Batticaloa, on September 29, shed light on an abduction and extortion racket that has plagued the eastern city for some time.

Investigations carried out following the arrest show that although several complaints had been made to the police with regard to suspicious activities taking place in highly residential areas in the city, no attention was paid to them and no action taken on the complaints made.

Army-backed milita 'abducting hundreds' in Batticaloa

Oct 17, 2006
The Karuna Group has abducted hundreds of men and boys - some as young as 12 - and is training them for combat in camps operated with the government's consent.

Terror label prolongs Sri Lanka war

Oct 3, 2006
Jared Ferrie
The rhetoric of the war on terror makes it easy to make glib judgments that one form of political violence is justified and another is not justified.'

‘The men spoke irregular and unfamiliar Tamil but fluent Sinhala’

Sep 19, 2006
Asian Human Rights Commission
One of the families in Jaffna peninsula gives a first hand account of what happens when armed men in white vans appear.

Death from white vans: the logic of terror

Sep 19, 2006
‘Security forces have again started killing civilians and quite indiscriminately’

Sri Lanka's war of the words

Sep 19, 2006
Reporters have struggled with synonyms and cliches. “Tenuous”, “crumbling”, “collapsing,” “faltering,” “shaky” and “fragile” have been liberally used to describe the ceasefire.

Terrorised Tamil traders flee to India

Sep 19, 2006
M.R. Narayan Swamy
"They had to take the threats seriously because some of their colleagues who ignored similar threats got killed later"

Aid workers targeted in Sri Lankan clashes

Sep 6, 2006
Cassie Biggs
“Even in a war, there are certain (groups) that are not touched, such as the Red Cross symbol and NGOs.”

Sri Lanka defiant over aid massacre charge

Sep 6, 2006
‘One of the most serious recent crimes against humanitarian aid workers worldwide’
(video) Sri Lanka 'uses child fighters' - UN envoy
Story of the Colombo 'safe house'
Army-backed milita 'abducting hundreds' in Batticaloa
Terror label prolongs Sri Lanka war
‘The men spoke irregular and unfamiliar Tamil but fluent Sinhala’
Death from white vans: the logic of terror
Sri Lanka's war of the words
Terrorised Tamil traders flee to India
Aid workers targeted in Sri Lankan clashes
Sri Lanka defiant over aid massacre charge
(video) Sri Lanka 'uses child fighters' - UN envoy
Story of the Colombo 'safe house'
Army-backed milita 'abducting hundreds' in Batticaloa
Terror label prolongs Sri Lanka war
‘The men spoke irregular and unfamiliar Tamil but fluent Sinhala’
Death from white vans: the logic of terror
Sri Lanka's war of the words
Terrorised Tamil traders flee to India
Aid workers targeted in Sri Lankan clashes
Sri Lanka defiant over aid massacre charge